Dennis Erickson Makes His First Change For 2010: Rich Olson Is Out As OC

Think back to the summer, when the temperature here in Arizona was a boiling 115 degrees, and everyone sporting the maroon and gold apparel had high expectations for the upcoming Sun Devils' football season. Little did everyone know, that ASU would only win four games. A season of high hopes, went by the wayside.

Now, as we sit here watching everyone else around the country battle for conference championships and bowl seeding, Dennis Erickson has already taken a step towards the future. The Sun Devils' offensive performances in the past two seasons, have been nothing short of pathetic. So, the man to take the blame for that debacle is Offensive Coordinator Rich Olson.

Erickson called ASU's offensive plays for the better part of the 2009 season, however, the scheming and inventiveness was lacking from day one with Olson.

The Pacific Ten conference is known for their high-flying, light up the scoreboard-type of performances, and ASU had that firepower in 2007, Erickson's first season. However, the offensive talent level was much greater in 2007 than compared to this season. Just look at the most important position, the quarterback.

In ASU's Holiday bowl season, Rudy Carpenter led the Sun Devils to ten wins, and this season Danny Sullivan, Brock Osweiler, and Samson Szakacsy couldn't even come close to the production that their predecessor had.

Now, is lack of talent, a reason to blame Olson and the offense? Some would say yes, I would say no. The point about this firing revolves around inventiveness. Olson and Erickson's offense looked exactly the same every single week for three seasons. The offensive explosions that fans in Tempe were used to seeing were long gone.

The offense began to be very predictable, and the defense was called upon to win countless games. Sometimes, the defense answered the bell, and others, the Sun Devils left the stadium with a loss.

Sometimes change is not a bad thing. In this case, a change at the offensive coordinator position at Arizona State was virtually inevitable, but in the coming weeks, let us see how many more changes Erickson makes for the 2010 season.

If a change in the win to loss ratio does not improve, Athletic Director Lisa Love might also be looking for change in the future.